Reconstruction of the early ethnic history of the Yakut tribe "Jarkhan" on the basis of ethnonymy, oral tradition and totemic ideas

Vinokurov Aleksandr Danilovich ORCID: 0000-0001-8925-8750 Junior research fellow at IHRISN SB RAS 677000, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Petrovsky str., 1, office 410 ad.vinokurov@yandex.ru

 The Zharkhans are one of the largest tribal groups that took part in the formation of the Yakut people. Oral folk tradition traces their ancestry back to the legendary ancestress Nyirbakaan, who was the wife of Kangalas toyon Munnan Darkhan. At the same time, the preserved archival documents designate the Zharkhans as an integral part of the Kangalassians. In this regard, in this study we have attempted to show the process of segmentation and formation of new tribal groups.

The first written information of the Russian Cossack explorers localizes the Yarkanskaya parish near the mouth of the Sinaya River (Fig.1) and they are included in the composition of the Kangalas group of clans and tribes ^{[2, p. 371]}. The book of the yasak collection for 1648-1649 contains the names of yasak collectors Treki Ilgiev, his sons Togurai, Tokhtotoy, Balatchi Trekin, Tyulyak Syusergin, who paid yasak in the Yakut prison, and Bulgudak Ugdarov, Tarkai Barkanov, Tarbuk Barkanov, Orgus Chachuev, Ivak Yemkonov, Tyumuk Ivakov, Mogchor Chyukuev, Sarchikan Byrkanov , Tureika Ugdarova paid yasak in Olekminsky prison ^{[4, pp.703-705, pp.755-756]}. Of the above-mentioned persons, the name of Tarkai Barkanov can be correlated with the name of the folklore character Tarkaaya Byrkyaa uol, the son of Byrkyaa Bootur, the grandson of Nyrbakaan.

Figure 1. Map of the settlement of the Yakut clans in the 17th century

A cycle of legends about Nyirbakaan and her descendants has been preserved among the Yakuts of the Vilyuisk and central group of uluses. The main concept of this legend tells that after the defeat of the tumats of the Tunguska tribe "Nyrba?aat" (in other sources - tumatka), one girl named Nyrbakaan managed to get to the modern location of Yakutsk and became the wife of the Kangalas ancestor Munnan Darkhan. Three sons were born from this marriage: Byrkyaa Bootur, Toyuk Bulgudakh and Bosho Balgetii. It is worth noting that perhaps this marriage had a political and dynastic background. Further, it tells about the forced relocation of Nyirbakaan's sons to the Vilyu River in connection with the difficult relationship of the brothers with Tygyn Darkhan's half-brother, the eldest son of Munnan Darkhan ^{[9, p.21]}.

Further, the storyline says that when the brothers Byrkyaa Bootur and Toyuk Bulgudakh escaped from Tuimaada, they left their paralyzed brother Bosho? Balgetiya at the Nuoraldyn river, which is a tributary of the Sinaya River. Paying attention to the geographical localization of the Zharkhans at the mouth of the Sinaya River, according to the evidence of the documents of the XVII century yasach collection, it can be assumed that the Boskho of Balgetii was left with relatives who lived here ^{[3, p.237]}. In accordance with this, it can be assumed that by the time of the arrival of Russian explorers in the territory of central Yakutia, according to folklore and archival information, there were two local groups of Zharkhans:

1. The Zharkhans, led by Trek Ilgiev, who lived along the Sinaya River of the Khangalassky ulus (confirmed by archival sources);

2. Zharkhans from the Nyirbakaan suite who lived in the Tuimaad valley of Yakutsk (according to folklore sources).

After the exodus from central Yakutia, the Zharkhans settled the territory of modern Suntar and Nyurbinsky uluses and a separate genus remained in the basin of the Olekma River. According to the data of the audit tales of 1795 and the All-Russian Agricultural and Land Census of 1917, a table of the settlement of Zharkhans was prepared indicating the separated villages ^{[11, pp.786-787]} (Table 1).

Table 1. Settlement of the Zharkhan naslegs with indication of the separated naslegs

The above table is significantly supplemented by the second table listing the generic composition (Table 2), thanks to which it is possible to track the process of fragmentation and formation of new genera and offshoots.

Table 2. Nomenclature of the generic composition of the Zharkhan naslegs

Of the above genera, representatives of the Tongo-Konui (formerly part of the 1st Zharkhan) nasleg of the Markhinsky ulus lived most closely to central Yakutia, who lived in the Tongo-Kuunu River basin ^{[5, l.2]}, the Syalyadyarsky genus in the Tobuya River basin of the Orget nasleg of the Verkhneviluysky ulus ^{[6, l.2]}, the Zharkhan genus of the Orget nasleg The Srednevilyuysky ulus ^{[8, L.2]} and the Yarkhan clan of the Olekminsky ulus ^{[7, L.1]}. The presence of Zharkhan clans as part of other tribal groups may indicate the settling of part of the Zharkhans when the bulk of their tribesmen move towards the Vilyu River.

As a totemic patron, the Vilyui Zharkhans, as part of the Kangalas tribal union, had an eagle ^{[10, p.165]}. Nyrbakaan Tarkaaya's grandson had a son named Borulloo (translated from the Yak.yaz. – white-tailed eagle). At the same time, as the Olekminsky Yarkhans had a swan as a totemic animal, perhaps this fact indicates the interpenetration of totemic ideas from the Meitans to the Yarkans ^{[12, p. 246]}.

Over the years, thanks to the efforts of researchers and local historians, oral versions of the family tree schemes of the Zharkhans were recorded. It is worth noting that these schemes are confirmed by the materials of audit fairy tales and metric books. As an example, the genealogy of the Golovinsky family (Kuluba a?atyn uuha) of the 1st Zharkhan nasleg of the Markhinsky (Nyurbinsky) ulus compiled by G.I. Vasiliev-Wastaayy from the words of the older generation of relatives (names from archival documents are given in parentheses) can serve as an example:

1. Munnan Darkhan (Myndyak) + Nyrbakaan;

2. Yrya Byrkyaa;

3. Tarkaayy (Tarkai Barkanov);

4. Borulloo;

5. Archancha;

6. Boccujar (Bolchuyar Arhantin);

7. Bayam (Bayam Bolchuyarov, after the baptism of Nikolai Sleptsov).

Subsequently, the family of Nikolai Sleptsov's ulus head was divided into two branches during the division of the 1st Zharkhan and Tarkai naslegs: 1. The Golovinsky genus as part of the 1st Zharkhan nasleg; 2. The Pavlovsky genus of the Tarkai nasleg ^{[1, pp.3-4]}.

Thus, based on folklore and archival sources, an attempt to reconstruct the early ethnic history of the Zharkhans allowed us to get a more complete picture of the specifics of the development of this tribal community at the turn of the XVII-XX centuries. As a result of the study, the places of settlement and ancestral composition were identified, pedigrees and totemic representations were studied. 

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